The present invention relates to modular computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a modular computer system having context-dependent performance characteristics.
Desktop computers and notebook (portable) computers are similar in relationship to apples and oranges. In today's computing environments, users use dedicated desktop computers for the office and dedicated portable computers for the road. Up to now, there has been little common ground between these platforms in terms of upgradability, ease-of-use, cost, performance, and the like. The differences between these platforms, probably somewhat intentional, has benefited computer manufacturers at the cost of consumers.
A drawback to having two separate computers is that the user wastes significant amount of time transferring software and data between the two computers. For example, the user must couple the portable computer to a local area network (LAN), to a serial port with a modem or null modem, etc. and then manually transfer over files and data between the desktop and the portable computer. Alternatively, the user must use floppy disks to "zip up" or "stuff" files and programs that exceed the storage capacity of conventional floppy disks, and transfer the floppy disk data manually.
Another drawback to the current model of separate notebook and desktop computer is that the user has to spend money to buy components and peripherals the are duplicated in the other computer. For example, both the desktop and portable computers typically include hard disk drives, floppy drives, CD-ROMS, computer memory, host processors, graphics accelerators, and the like. Further, because program software and supporting programs must be installed upon both hard drives in order for the user to use programs on the road and in the office, hard disk space is wasted.
One approach to reduce the above drawbacks has been to have a user purchase and use a notebook (or portable) computer "on the road" and to purchase and use a "docking station" for in-office use. Such docking stations typically include separate monitors, keyboards, mice, and the like. Further, docking stations are different between different portable computer vendors.
Drawback to this approach is that typically the notebook PC typically has lower performance and functionality than a desktop PC. For example, the processor of the notebook is typically much slower than processors in dedicated desktop computers, because of power consumption and heat dissipation concerns. As an example, it is noted that at the time of drafting of the present application, some top-of-the-line desktops include 400 MHz processors, whereas top-of-the-line notebook computers include 266 MHz processors.
Another drawback to the docking station approach is that the typical cost of portable computers with docking stations can approach the cost of having a separate portable computer and a separate desktop computer. Further, as noted above, because different vendors of portable computers have proprietary docking stations, computer users are held captive by their investments and must rely upon the particular computer vendor for future upgrades, support, and the like.
Modular computer architectures have been proposed in the past. Such architectures however focus upon the interchangeability and upgradability of parts. For example, a new "standard" known as "Device Bay" has been proposed by Compaq Computer Corporation, Intel Corporation, Microsoft and other personal computer manufacturers. The Device Bay is currently focused upon computer peripheral devices such as CD-ROMS, DVD drives, hard disk drives, and the like for desktop computers.
A drawback with the Device Bay standard is that the Device Bay is not focused upon other components the user may wish upgrade, such as the CPU, the memory, graphics accelerators, and the like. Further, the Device Bay is oriented towards making user upgrades to a desktop computer easier, and not focused upon the interchangeability of computing subsystems with portable computers.
Yet another drawback with previous modular computer architectures proposed in the past is that the performance of the computers (for example the CPU) vary little if at all based upon configuration and reconfiguration of the computer system.
Thus what is needed are computer systems that provide reduced user investment in redundant computer components and provide a variable level of performance based upon computer configuration.